The Cleveland Heritage Medal was established in 2016 as the highest civilian award in Greater Cleveland. Modeled after the Presidential Medal of Freedom, it recognizes those who have made meritorious contributions to the welfare and development of Cleveland and its citizens and who, as role models, represent the core values of service to others, teamwork, courage, respect, and inclusion and diversity.

The Cleveland Heritage Medal will be bestowed upon the honorees during a luncheon on Thursday, November 15, 2018. Serving as master of ceremonies will be Russ Mitchell, the managing editor of the evening news and lead anchor at WKYC.

More information about the Cleveland Heritage Medal can be found at heritagemedal.com.

About the MetroHealth System

The MetroHealth System, Cuyahoga County’s public health system, is honoring its commitment to create a healthier community by building a new hospital on its main campus in Cleveland. The building, and the 25 acres of green space around it, are catalyzing the revitalization of MetroHealth’s West Side neighborhood.

MetroHealth will break ground on the new hospital in late 2018, using nearly $1 billion it borrowed on its own credit after dramatically improving its finances. In the past five years, MetroHealth’s operating revenue has increased by 44.5 percent and its number of employees by 21 percent. Today, its staff of 7,700 provides care at MetroHealth’s four hospitals, four emergency departments and more than 20 health centers and 40 additional sites throughout Cuyahoga County. In the past year, MetroHealth has served 300,000 patients at more than 1.4 million visits in its hospitals and health centers, 75 percent of whom are uninsured or covered by Medicare or Medicaid.

The health system is home to Cuyahoga County’s most experienced Level I Adult Trauma Center, verified since 1992, and the only adult and pediatric burn center in the state of Ohio.

As an academic medical center, MetroHealth is committed to teaching and research. Each active staff physician holds a faculty appointment at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and its main campus hospital houses a Cleveland Metropolitan School District high school of science and health.